LANDFORM MORPHOLOGY IN MARTIAN OUTFLOW CHANNELS

Cataclysmic floods in Mars’ past significantly altered the landscape and left large outflow channels. These events should have left a signature on pre-existing features such as craters and flow obstacles. Craters should be shallower from rim to floor, and flow obstacles should exhibit similar degrees of streamlining as on Earth. Image analysis was performed in JMARS (Java Mission-planning and Analysis for Remote Sensing ) using a Mars Orbiter Laster Altimeter (MOLA) digital elevation model (DEM), Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) imagery, and a comprehensive online crater database. Craters larger than 30km in Maja Valles displayed lower crater depths relative to crater diameter than craters in highland areas. This trend was not present in the Simud-Tiu network where the outflow channels are narrower and incised deeply into the terrain. A lack of craters larger than 10km in Kasei Valles prevented analysis of this region. Streamlined islands in Maja and Kasei Valles both exhibit elongation ratios close to 3, which is similar to streamlined islands mapped on Earth.